Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Stem cells help researchers study dementia in living human cells, a new report focuses on gender equality in clinical research, and how the Netherlands is innovating dementia care (read more).

Must reads

A March 4, 2014 Harvard Gazette article reported that "stem cells from patients offer model and drug-discovery platform for early onset form of disease." According to the article, "Harvard stem cell scientists have successfully converted skins cells from patients with early onset Alzheimer’s into the types of neurons that are affected by the disease, making it possible for the first time to study this leading form of dementia in living human cells. This may also make it possible to develop therapies more quickly and accurately than before."

A March 4, 2014 Hernando Today opinion piece by Jackie Kouri called for increased awareness and resources to fight Alzheimer's. According to Kouri, "Alzheimer's will be a legacy of the baby boomers. Either we choose to do something, or choose not to and allow its cost to bankrupt our nation and its family toll to create a social burden we cannot bear." Jackie Kouri is a member of the national board of directors for the Alzheimer's Association.

A March 3, 2014 Northeast Public Radio article reported that a group of health care specialists and lawmakers released a new report that highlights medical research gender disparities entitled “Sex-Specific Medical Research: Why Women’s Health Can’t Wait" - the study includes a section on Alzheimer's. According to the article, "The report focused on the disparities in research, diagnoses, treatments and outcomes between men and women for heart disease, lung cancer, depression and Alzheimer’s. For example, the report says although heart disease is the top killer of women in the United States, only one-third of clinical trial subjects are female and only about 30 percent of trials that do include women report outcomes by sex. Senator Warren pointed out disproportionate representation of female subjects starts before a study even reaches human trials." [Full report here]

International

A March 3, 2014 Smithsonian article profiled an innovative dementia care village in the Netherlands called Hogewey. According to the article, "About 150 people live in Hogewey and every one of them has severe dementia. But instead of spending their days planted in front of TVs in a place nothing like what they’ve known as normal, many of the residents stroll around their little village. They have their own supermarket, theater, hair salon, café and gardens. Yes, the compound is fenced in, and yes, there’s a security gate, but the residents are free to roam, as they follow what they remember to be their daily routines."

Why 2020?

USAgainstAlzheimer’s has retained its goal of stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020 rather than endorsing the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that calls for preventing and effectively treating the disease by 2025. While we support the national plan and its goals, we believe, as most every family touched by Alzheimer’s disease believes, that preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025 is simply too long a wait for concrete progress. There are promising avenues of drug discovery and development that will, if successful, deliver a means of slowing or deferring Alzheimer's symptoms by 2020. By voicing the urgency felt by so many families, we will pressure researchers and industry to do all in their power to make that happen.